PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The ACLU is taking Mayor Nutter to court over the controversial police policy of “stop and frisk” — a tactic that the civil rights group says is being used to target minorities.

According to the ACLU, the use of stop and frisk has increased greatly since Mayor Nutter took office nearly three years ago — more than a 250,000 last year alone. Civil rights attorney David Rudovsky says many of the searches are without cause and target primarily African-Americans and Hispanics:

“They are subject to stops many, many more times than their white counterparts.  And in our view that can’t be explained by anything but race.”

Mayor Nutter for his part defends the tactic and says it played a role in reducing crime:

“You can use this strategy and tactic in a proper way to effectuate safety.”

And Nutter denies race is a factor in who is searched.  He says its about targeting high crime neighborhoods.  Nutter says, “it’s based on geography, and nothing else.”

Reported by Mike Dunn, KYW Newsradio